When she was still alive Ambassador Orie Rogo Manduli was full of controversies. It she has extended her controversial status to her death bed.
On Sunday, Kenya woke up to the news that the news that her burial was postponed, and do you know why? It is because her eldest daughter was sick, sounds peculiar right?
Orie’s burial was postponed by a week to give the daughter, Engineer Elizabeth Rogo, who was admitted to Nairobi Hospital time to recuperate.
“The family has considered the situation and decided to postpone the upcoming funeral services by a week to give our Elizabeth room to recuperate and to be able to attend her mother’s send off,” read the statement by her foster son and family spokesperson Gor Semelang’o.
Other than the postponement of the burial, Orie will be buried in their home in Kitale instead of her late husband’s place in Zambia. This is a bit controversial as African customary law notes that when a woman is dead she should be married at her husband’s place unless she is divorced.
Manduli was first married to a Kenyan husband, Ondieki with whom they had three daughters – Elizabeth, Allison and Janice. They later divorced five years after getting married.
She got remarried to Norman Manduli, a Zambian and cousin to former Zambian President Fredrick Chiluba in 1980. Chiluba later died in 2003 while they were still married.
While still alive, she was also not short of controversies. She will be remembered for her tough personality.
She will be remembered as among the few people who people will keep on guessing their ages. Orie has consistently declined to reveal her age to the public noting that a woman never tell her age.
She will also be remembered as one of the a few African mothers who declined their daughters to never take the names of their husband.
During the wedding of daughter, Elizabeth, the former Miss East Africa declined that her daughter should never drop the names Rogo in her name. According to her it was a way to ensure the continuity of her lineage.
She also stunned the nation when she became Kenyan’s first female Safari Rally driver in 1974, alongside the late Job Omino’s wife Sylvia.
Most recently she also took the attention of the nation after she was embroiled in a serious disagreement with the then Culture and Heritage minister Najib Balala tried to kick her out of office. During the fight she refused to leave the office forcing Balala to order the police not to allow anyone in and out of her office.
During the short detention, Manduli was surviving on fruits and juice. Her tenacity won and she retained her job and became the first woman to chair the NGO council.
